100 Generative Images
These days we are inundated with articles, posts, podcasts, talks, and think pieces about the promise and/or peril of generative AI. Economists and politicians worry that so many jobs will be automated away that the economy will collapse. Journalists are sounding the alarm that these technologies will enable disinformation and manipulation at scale and at near zero cost. Educators are struggling to identify which of their students’ term papers were written by robots. Technologists see these tools as powerful amplifiers and accelerators of human creativity that will spark a new renaissance. For a deeper dive, here’s John Oliver’s characteristically informative and hilarious take.
I’m sure we’ll have mixed success avoiding AI’s pitfalls but I’m on Team Optimist. I think these tools have the potential to free us from tedium, amplify our human strengths, revolutionize creative work, and maybe even catalyze the transformation of our socioeconomic systems. If the PC is a bicycle for the mind and the internet it its motorcycle, then maybe, if we get this right, generative AI could be the mind’s jet pack.
This Exercise
When Midjourney first went live, I ran a few experimental image prompts. I was fascinated by this new parlor trick but I wanted to try using it for something more than periodic dabbling. I developed a habit of writing a spontaneous image prompt each morning when I arrive at my desk. The prompts are drawn from current events, poems, people, conversations, dreams, books, songs, films, and absurd ideas from who knows where. The only common thread is that they were plucked from the musings that accompanied my morning coffee. This collection also serves as a snapshot of what these tools were capable of in early/mid 2023. I fully expect these images will appear quaint and antiquated by years’ end as AI’s explosive (r)evolution gathers steam.
Disciplines
- Generative AI, Concepting, Experimentation
A dadaist collage featuring images of retro-future space rockets and other vehicles, brown, patina
A tilt shift photograph of a miniature green plastic army man smiling and carrying flowers instead of a gun, soldier, plastic, dramatic lighting, macro
An abstract plaster relief sculpture panel of natural wave forms, realistic lighting
A tilt shift photograph of a miniature white ghost made of felt, needle felt, highly detailed, realistic, felt materials, wool, 3d, skilled construction, excellent craftsmanship
An actual ghost ghosting you on plans
A faint pencil sketch of Leonardo DiCaprio in the style of Leonardo da Vinci's sketchbook, parchment, patina
A collage in the style of Nick Bantock, Balinese elephant statue, praying mantis, lotus blossoms, post mark, rubber stamp, mysterious, macabre feeling
A woman having a powerful existential epiphany in the New Mexico desert, vivid colors, cinematic lighting, hyperrealistic
A simple abstract geometric painting featuring a circle, style of Hilma af Klint
A poler bear suspended in mid air and lit from above against a seamless white background
A monochromatic clay relief sculpture panel of stylized foliage in the style of Henri Rousseau, photorealistic, detailed, cinematic lighting, depth
A layered 3D cut paper relief sculpture of Marcel Proust, made from printed book pages, collage, stylized, portrait, artful, gallery lighting
A surreal handmade mail art postcard in the style of Nick Bantock's Griffin and Sabine trilogy, stamps, spot illustrations, patina
Rowdy dogs playing on sand very detailed and realistic
A Theo Jensen strandbeest sculpture walking on a beach, photo, realistic, dynamic lighting
A still from a 1968 science fiction movie featuring an intergalactic villain, elaborate costume, metallic, Barbarella, Zardoz
Miranda July as a Greek Orthodox icon mosaic, gold leaf, ornate, photorealistic
Alice as an ornate victorian robot girl, Alice in Wonderland, decorative, elaborate, texture, warm light, volumetric lighting, lumen reflections, photorealistic, 85mm
Edie Sedgwick as a video game character, octane render, unreal engine, cinematic lighting
The waiting room was full of grown up people, arctics and overcoats, lamps and magazines
A modernist cabin in the woods on a lake designed by John Pawson, glass, concrete, realistic, detailed, serene
A black and white photographic negative of Kanye West
A lonely ghost woman made of black smoke walking on a misty moor, realistic, dramatic lighting, moody, macabre, detailed, textured
Fireflies in a wetland at sunset
A forest floor diorama with insects mushrooms sticks plants rocks, 3d figures, felted, constructed of felt, life-like, highly detailed, low angle, realistic, felt plants
A black and white photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson
Autumn trees in heavy fog at sunrise
Walt Whitman made out of foliage, topiary, leaves, vines, moss, texture, beard, warm light, volumetric lighting, lumen reflections, photorealistic, 85mm
A Christopher Hitchens action figure
A giant mechanical steampunk butterfly, fit in frame, no cropping, medium shot, volumetric light, realistic lighting, extremely detailed, cinematic light, octane render, unreal engine
A photo portrait of bigfoot by Annie Leibovitz, black and white, extreme detail, photo realistic, 85mm, F1.4
A multiple exposure sepiatone photograph, misty deciduous forest and a middle-aged viking
An abstract painting in the style of Gerhard Richter
It's a dead man's party, who could ask for more? Everybody's comin', leave your body at the door, Tim Burton style, dark, colorful, macabre
A streetstyle photograph of a fashionable architect in Brooklyn, male, 40 years old, 50mm, F1.4
Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us as miniature plastic action figures in a postapocalyptic city diorama, model, miniature, tilt shift, photograph, realistic lighting
A page from the Mars colony Boy Scout handbook in the year 2060
A tilt shift photograph of Elon Musk as a miniature plastic action figure with simplified features like a Ken doll, octane render, blender, soft lighting, photographic details, 3D model, ZBrush
A cute needle felted werewolf character in a needle felted forest scene, crafted, High resolution, Photorealistic lighting
A Tarot card featuring Plato
A vintage sepia photograph of Tom Waits, scratched, dirty, weathered, patina, F1.4, realistic, extreme detail
Photo of autumn leaves on a grey windy day, ethereal, intricate, elaborate, hyperrealism, extreme detail, expressive, action, cinematic lighting, visual clarity, 200mm
A production still of Bill Murray as Charles Foster Kane in Wes Anderson's 2023 remake of Citizen Kane
An 1870s photograph of a lumberjack with a bushy mustache, portrait, sepia, patina, suspenders, henley, vintage, scratches
A frog in fancy 18th century men's clothes, anthropomorphic, realistic, intricate detail, atmospheric, beautiful lighting, moody lighting, epic scene, 50mm f1.4
A moody blue unicorn in the style of Hayao Miyazaki
Elon Musk as a cute Pixar style character, sad expression, pouting, starting to cry, high detail, renderman render
A tidy arrangement of insects of different kinds and sizes, photograph, hyperrealistic, cream colored background, artful, scientific, Victorian
A man with a laptop drinking coffee in a cafe painted in the style of Hieronymus Bosch
Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir,I have tried in my way to be free
A mayan statue of a stylized French bulldog made of stone, ornate, aztec motif, cinematic lighting, realistic, detailed, textured
A studio portrait of an authentic viking, worn leather clothes with viking decorations, viking hat, wild beard and moustache, axe, 50 years old, studio lighting, all black background, proud expression, realistic
A black and white polaroid portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat taken at Andy Warhol's factory, 1982
A color polaroid of Patti Smith taken at CBGBs in 1975, vintage, streetstyle
A black and white polaroid of a “Superstar” at Andy Warhol’s factory in 1975
An octopus with a smartphone, extreme detail, dramatic lighting, cinematic lighting, octane render, F1.4
A classical portrait of an 18th century sea captain but with a hamster head
A man hiking alone in a peaceful rainy forest, photorealistic, cinematic lighting, coniferous, evergreens, muted colors
A detailed moody black and white photo portrait of Nick Cave in a hall of mirrors
Socrates drawn by Chris Ware
An abstract painting of microorganisms, style of Joan Miró, organic shapes, colorful, full frame
A friendly mascot character for human-centered design, MacBook, glasses, clean, stylized, simplified, vector art
A painting of a man and a woman with a German Shepherd dog moving from the city to the country
A Christmas card designed by Paul Rand
A portrait of a frog in fancy 18th century men's clothing, fit in frame, no cropping, medium shot, volumetric light, realistic lighting, extremely detailed, cinematic light, octane render, unreal engine, hdr
A closeup of the bees knees seen through an electron microscope, infrared, black and white, shallow depth of field, extreme detail
A production still from Blade Runner if it had been filmed in 1957
A sepia tone photo of the wicked witch riding a vintage motorcycle
Jeff Bezos as Dr. Manhattan, blue, glowing, luminescent, cinematic lighting, octane render
A black and white studio portrait of an authentic pirate, tattered fancy clothes, pirate hat, bicorn hat, wild beard and moustache, 60 years old, fashion lighting, mischievous smile, 85mm, F1.4
A photo portrait of Tilda Swinton in the style of Platon, intense expression, high key, black and white, solid white background, strong resemblance, highly realistic, detailed, 85mm, F1.4
A tilt shift photograph of lower Manhattan in miniature with the architecture style of Rivendell
A Jack Nicholson jack-o-lantern, photorealistic, highly detailed, dramatic lighting, cinematic lighting, octane render
A black and white art photograph of a pacific northwest rain forest at sunrise, low angle, calm, serene, mossy, damp, quiet, meditative
A portrait of a bard owl, fit in frame, no cropping, medium shot, volumetric light, realistic lighting, extremely detailed, cinematic light, octane render, unreal engine, hdr
I wandered lonely as a cloud
A scene from Forest Gump directed by Ingmar Bergman, black and white, austere
Neil Gaiman's Sandman character drawn in the style of Chris Ware, graphic, colorful, geometric
A cute baby Samurai warrior character
A bust of Aristotle, 3d, faceted, low poly, recognizable, gallery lighting
Kodama tree spirit figures in the woods, Spirited Away, Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, glowing, luminescent, translucent, photorealistic, cinematic, octane render, F1.4
A portrait of Marina Abramović standing in front of a giant clock face, photograph, black and white, symetrical, dramatic lighting, highly detailed, realistic, 50mm, F1.4
A Balinese shadow puppet of Don Quixote on horseback carrying his lance, detailed, intricate, stylized, dramatic
A cute puppy with devil horns painted by Banksy, concrete wall, stencil, street art, urban
An abstract concrete relief panel inspired by mycelium, organic, gallery lighting, photorealistic, flat shot, straight on, edge to edge
A 1973 vintage polaroid from a family Christmas gathering, America, suburbia
An X-ray of a hand holding an iPhone
A bunny in a 1970s space suit and space helmet, anthropomorphic, photo, realistic, detailed, cinematic lighting
A dreamlike tilt shift photograph of a red metal box filled with stacks of 100 dollar bills, hyperrealistic, detailed, cinematic lighting
A Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
A black and white art photograph of a rainforest floor with light coming through the trees above, damp, misty, enveloping, ferns, conifers, moss, nurse log, extremely detailed, highly realistic
A shiny plastic robot achieving enlightenment while meditating
Nicholas Cage as a 17th century philosopher painted by Rembrandt
A blue jay in fancy 18th century men's clothes, anthropomorphic, realistic, intricate detail, atmospheric, moody lighting, epic scene, 50mm 1.4, canon photography, ray tracing
This grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
I stood waiting in the room made from broken mocking birds. Their wings throbbing into four blurred walls
Fit to frame portrait of a donkey with a determined expression, subsurface scattering, photo realism, Photography, Natural Lighting, intricate details, highly detailed
Wilderness is not a place but a pattern of soul where every tree, bird, and beast is a soul maker
A charismatic male new age cult leader, Robert LaDuke style, plasticine style, vintage film style, hyper realistic, 8k, super detailed
56 year old white man of British and Dutch descent, thin, average looking, black round wire-rimmed glasses, clean shaven, blue eyes, light grey short hair styled in a loose part, casual button-up shirt